Tom Rothman, Chairman of Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, wrote in an email to colleagues, "I am pleased to report that late last night, Sony did indeed succeed in securing the worldwide rights in all media to Quentin Tarantino's next epic film. Bottom line: Quentin chose Sony over many other competitors. And he did this because of all of YOU! He remembers well the outstanding job the company did on Django, and was particularly impressed last week by the presentation of our marketing and distribution capabilities, both domestically and internationally."

The e-mail continued, "I'm grateful to all who worked to make this happen and confident that we will do a great job for him on this film and others to come. It's a real credit to the studio and to each of you. Congratulations."

Set in the late 1960s/early 1970s in L.A., the film is an ensemble feature. Its working title comes from this being Tarantino's ninth feature.

From a long time Tarantino has been working with The Weinstein Company for his movies, but decided to drift away from them because of the sexual misconduct allegations that have been made against its former head Harvey Weinstein.

Talking about Weinstein, Tarantino earlier said, "I knew enough to do more than I did. There was more to it than just the normal rumours, the normal gossip. It wasn't secondhand. I knew he did a couple of these things. I wish I had taken responsibility for what I heard. If I had done the work I should have done then, I would have had to not work with him."

Tarantino's last film, 'The Hateful Eight,' was a box office disappointment, earning USD 155.8 million globally on a USD 44 million budget.